Waking Up The Evil Dead
by Random42
Summary: Buffy/Evil Dead crossover. A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed. Now it’s up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.
1. Prologue

Waking Up The Evil Dead

by Random

***

DISCLAIMER:  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all its characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and the WB Network.  "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," "Army of Darkness" and all their characters and names are property of Sam Raimi and Renaissance Pictures.  "Splattermania" written by Ginger, published by Warner Chappel Music Ltd.  "Far Beyond Metal" written by Devin Townsend, Gene Hoglan, Jed Simon, Byron Stroud and John Paul Morgan, published by Bucket of Nothing Music.

DESCRIPTION:  Buffy/Evil Dead crossover.  A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed by an evil force.  Now it's up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.

RATING:  R

FEEDBACK:  Yes, please!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This was my very first Buffy fanfiction that I wrote way back in 1999.  It takes place towards the end of season three.  Thanks to Kent for pointing out my glaring omission of the term "boomstick."  And thanks to Devin, Ginger and Jason for all the music.

* * *

PROLOGUE

* * *

_It's raw, unclean, uncut and it's all for the art of pain  
Just make-up there  
The effects and the movies that twist the brain  
My TV screen is dripping red, with gates of hell and evil dead  
I cannot wait to see it up close so slice away and go for gross again_

_It's splattermania, it's extra censored thrills  
It's splattermania, it's zoom in on the kill  
It's splattermania, I know you think I'm ill  
But if you hold on tight and don't be shy  
We're drilling brains and pulling eyes  
It isn't real, the nation ain't in danger  
It's only Splattermania  
                      "Splattermania," The Wildhearts_

_The purpose of this exercise is to accentuate the cheesier parts  
                      "Far Beyond Metal," Strapping Young Lad_

* * *

It was an unusually quiet night, and that worried Buffy.  Whenever she went out on patrol she always felt best when she found a few vampires trolling the town, looking for somebody to feed on.  But when it was quiet like this, it often meant that they were up to something, and when vampires (or other demons for that matter) where up to something it usually made for bad business all around.  Buffy could practically see her weekend plans going down the drain.  She had heard many good things about the band that was going to play the Bronze that weekend, but instead it looked like her and her friends would be spending their time off in full research mode, up to their neck in books, locked up in the school library.

                      There was a time, a few years ago, when that prospect would have made her physically ill.  The loss of social status associated with spending more than a millisecond in a library would have been more than she could have stomached.  After all only geeks did that.  But that had been a different Buffy, living in a different world. She had a done a lot of growing up in little time since then.

                      Buffy abandoned her train of thought as some noise caught her attention.  Voices, footsteps, about four our five people.  They seemed to be in an awful hurry.  She scanned the park around her but didn't see anybody.  The noise was coming closer.  Buffy quickly dove into a bush and held her stake at the ready.

                      Then she could see them: four vampires, one of them was clearly carrying something.  They seemed very nervous, which gave Buffy the feeling that what they were carrying was of no small value.  They were obviously trying to be circumspect, but they were heading right for Buffy's ambush.

                      When the vampires passed the bush Buffy was hiding in she jumped out and quickly staked the vampire closest to her.  One down, three to go.  Another vampire swung and connected with her face, which disoriented the slayer for a moment.

                      "Run," he yelled at the vampire carrying the obscure object of value.  "Get the book to the others, we'll take care of the slayer."

                      The vampire carrying what Buffy now knew to be a book ran off, as the other two slowly circled her, ready to engage her in combat.  One swung at Buffy and missed.  She quickly kicked the second one in the stomach, making him double over and then struck him in the jaw, sending him flying backwards.  She spun around and kicked the first vampire in the jaw.  She again turned the second vampire, ready to stake him, but found him gone.  The first vampire also saw his chance and quickly took to his heels.

                      Buffy decided to forget about the cowards and ran off in pursuit of the guy with the book.  Within short time she had caught up with him.  She lunged at the vampire and brought him down with a tackle worthy of an all-pro outside linebacker.  The vampire started kicking out randomly hoping to escape, but Buffy had a strong hold on him.  She struck the vampire in the stomach twice, then brought up her stake and turned him to dust.

                      Buffy slowly sat up and scanned her surroundings making sure that the other two vampires weren't coming back for more.  She dusted herself off and grabbed the bag that the vampire had been carrying.  Turning the bag upside down she saw a large book fall out.

                      Buffy's heart skipped a beat when she saw the cover.  This book was definitely different from any of the other books that she had seen in Giles' possession.  The only thing it seemed to have in common with the other book was it's apparent age.  This book was bound in what looked like leather, but it had a demented and disfigured face stretched out over the cover.  There was no writing on the book, giving a clue to its origin or contents.

                      Buffy hardly dared touch the book as she whisked it back into the bag and ran off headed for the high school library.


	2. Part I

Waking Up The Evil Dead

by Random

***

DISCLAIMER:  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all its characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and the WB Network.  "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," "Army of Darkness" and all their characters and names are property of Sam Raimi and Renaissance Pictures.  "Splattermania" written by Ginger, published by Warner Chappel Music Ltd.  "Far Beyond Metal" written by Devin Townsend, Gene Hoglan, Jed Simon, Byron Stroud and John Paul Morgan, published by Bucket of Nothing Music.

DESCRIPTION:  Buffy/Evil Dead crossover.  A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed by an evil force.  Now it's up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.

RATING:  R

FEEDBACK:  Yes, please!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This was my very first Buffy fanfiction that I wrote way back in 1999.  It takes place towards the end of season three.  Thanks to Kent for pointing out my glaring omission of the term "boomstick."  And thanks to Devin, Ginger and Jason for all the music.

NOTE:  This fic's original title was "There's Something Evil In The Parking Lot".

* * *

PART I

* * *

"I'm sure that if the proper authorities were informed the cafeteria would be declared a biohazard," Xander was ranting, as he entered the library with Willow and Buffy in tow, the next day.

                      "Yeah, sure," Willow argued, "but what would we eat then?"

                      Xander took a moment to ponder the proposed loss of a meal.  "Well," Xander elaborated, "if you assume that the standard definition of 'eating' is ingesting food, and you redefine food to encompass many things that the same authorities would label as non-nutritional or inedible, I see you point."

                      The three kids found Giles sitting at the library table in deep sleep, right next to the book that Buffy had retrieved the night before.  His clothes were wrinkled, his hair was unkempt and he was still holding on to a half empty cup of tea.

                      The trio milled around the watcher and they gave each other questioning glances, seeing if anybody would make the first move to wake Giles up.  Finally Buffy took the initiative and she gently shook the sleeping figure.

                      Giles snapped back to consciousness with a start.  He blinked a few times, adjusted his glasses and looked around at the three figures in front of him.  His eyes were bloodshot and they made no attempt at hiding the fact that Giles had barely slept.

                      "Oh, good morning," he said apologetically, after getting enough cobwebs cleared to recognize the visitors.

                      "Morning?" Willow laughed.  "It hasn't been morning in hours."

                      "Riveting reading, I presume," Xander said as he picked the book up off the tabletop.  "Whoa," he blurted when he saw the cover, "that's some serious cover art.  I'm sure this baby practically sold itself."  He held the book up over his face and said in a sinister voice, "Buy me, or I will bite your head off!"

                      When Xander saw that he was the only one laughing at this joke he started leafing through the pages.  The symbols thereon, written in what seemed like red ink, were of an alphabet Xander had never seen before.  So he just concentrated on the illustrations, which depicted grotesque visions of decayed bodies that seemed to be neither human nor animal.  Xander assumed it to be a safe guess that they weren't mineral either.

                      "I see the book sparked your interest," Buffy remarked.

                      "Yes," Giles replied, "it's quite extraordinary actually.  At least from what I've been able to translate so far."

                      "Oh, look," Xander exclaimed holding up the book for the others to see.  He had turned it to a page with a picture of a head with half the skin rotted off, exposing the skull underneath.  "It's got a picture of Cordelia without make-up!"

                      Buffy and Willow acknowledged the comment with only half a smile.  They knew he was lashing out, the last months had been hard on him.  Ever since Oz and Cordelia had caught him and Willow kissing, he had not been the same.  Oz had been able to forgive Willow and their relationship seemed even stronger now.  Cordelia however had completely cut Xander out of her life.  Whenever they did see each other Cordelia always made a conscious effort to be excessively cruel to Xander.  Nobody knew exactly what was going on with her but it was fairly obvious that she had taken Xander's betrayal very hard.

                      "So what are we dealing with here?" Buffy inquired.

                      "Well, I can't be exactly sure," Giles answered taking his glasses off to clean them.  "According to popular belief this book does not exist."

                      Xander looked up from the book's pages.  "I know that I'm not qualified to make this judgment, but I'm gonna say that they're wrong."

                      "Obviously," Giles conceded, "but even though there have been many legends and stories told about this book nobody has actually been able to prove its existence in nearly seven hundred years.  It has been known as _Morturom Demanto or __Necronomicon ex Mortis, which roughly translated means 'Book of the Dead,' a volume of ancient Sumerian burial practices and funerary incantations.  Legend has it that it was written by the Dark Ones, bound in human skin and inked in human blood."_

                      "Yaaahhh!" Xander exclaimed as he flinched away from the book as if it had bitten him, dropping it back onto the table.  His disgust was evident on his face.  "You…" he stammered, fumbling for words, "you couldn't tell me _before I picked that thing up?!"_

                      Willow eyed the pained expression of the face stretched over the cover of the book with discomfort.  She wondered for a moment whose skin it was and what they might have looked like before they had become the pray of some demented bookbinder.

                      "That'll teach you not to play with Giles' toys," Buffy said, somewhat surprised at her morbid joke.

                      "So what can this book of the dead do for us?" Willow asked tentatively.

                      "Well, mostly warn us not to let it fall into the wrong hands," Giles said opening the book to one of the first pages.  "The book mostly deals with demons and demon resurrection and the forces which roam he dark bowers of man's domain.  It warns that these enduring creatures may lie dormant but are never truly dead.  They can be recalled to active life through the incantations in this book.  It is through recitation of certain passages in here that these demons are given license to possess the living."

                      "Is this radically different from the demons that we've dealt with so far?" Buffy inquired.

                      "Demons live and die by certain rules.  Since this book has been lost for seven hundred years there is very little information on these particular beings.  But the book speaks of a force of pure evil that when allowed to roam in our dimension, can possess people at will."  Giles seemed to be at a loss for further explanations.  "I still have to study and translate more of the book before I can know exactly what we are dealing with."

                      "You said we have to be careful about whose hands it falls into," Buffy mused.  "I got it off a troop of vampires.  Could that mean trouble?"

                      "It very well might.  The one advantage we have is that anybody dealing with this text has to start from square one, since it has been lost for so long.  I don't know how successful they might have been in deciphering the text, but the best thing to do is be prepared for the worst.  I will do my best to gain as much information as possible.  Buffy, make sure you check in with me before you go on patrol tonight."

                      "Will do," Buffy acknowledged.

                      "Can we help with the research?" Willow asked eagerly.

                      Both Buffy and Xander shot their friend an angry look.  They had no intention to spend their Thursday night in the library while the rest of the world would be out enjoying themselves at the Bronze.

                      "I doubt it," Giles said, accompanied by relieved sighs.  "No, I better do this alone, without any distractions around.  You go along and do…" Giles wrinkled his forehead in desperation.  "Um, whatever it is you kids do," he finished lamely.

                      "The consummate school employee," Xander quipped.  "Always with his hand firmly on the pulse of the younger generation."

                      And with that the trio of friends bid the librarian cum watcher farewell.  They exited the library and headed out of the school.

                      Outside they regrouped before going off on their separate ways.

                      "I trust I'll see you all at the Bronze tonight?" Buffy inquired.

                      "Absolutely," Willow said excitedly, "Count me and Oz in."

                      Buffy turned to her other friend.  "Xander?"

                      "Well," he stammered unconvincingly, "y'know, I have some things that I need to do and… I have to…"

                      "Bull!" Buffy interrupted, "you were going to sit at home by yourself and mope."

                      "I'd classify that as 'things to do'" he argued defensively.  "Moping is somewhat of a lost art form, I'll have you know."

                      "Come on you have to put Cordelia behind you and rejoin civilization," Buffy said.  "If you spend the weekend all by yourself she might think you're a loser."

                      "Cordelia thinks I'm a loser anyway," Xander answered dejectedly.

                      "Yeah, but if stay home you would prove her right!" Buffy stated triumphantly apparently satisfied with her argument.

                      Xander wasn't quite sure if what Buffy had said made any sense, but it had struck a nerve.  "All right," he conceded.  "I'll be there."

                      Buffy grinned.  "Great!  I will see you 'round nine, then."  Then the smile faded from the slayer's face.  "Damn!" she swore.  "I promised my mom I'd pick her up some blank video tapes."  She looked up at Xander.  "Wanna give me a ride to the store, Xand?" she asked.

                      "No," Xander whined.

                      Buffy quickly grabbed Xander's arm, hugged it and gave him her best sad puppy look.  "Pleeeeeeeze?" she pleaded coyly, "please, please, please, super cool car-guy."  For good measure she also stuck out her bottom lip.

* * *

The sun set and it awoke.  And as soon as it awoke it was on the prowl.

                      It was in a smallish grove on the outskirts of the town.  It flew through the trees, close to ground level.  It was weaving and bobbing to avoid the branches, then headed straight for the trunk of a tree.  As it approached, the trunk split down the middle with a loud crack and it passed through the gash, as the two halves of the tree fell to the ground.  Soon the trees became less and less dense and then it emerged out of the grove onto a meadow.  It flew down a hill headed for an illuminated street and the big parking lot of the mall beyond.  It flew across the street and started roaming amongst the long rows of cars.

                      Then it saw her.

                      She was walking across the parking lot, apparently headed for her car, carrying a shopping bag from one of the upscale shoe stores in the mall.

                      It immediately zeroed in on her and it sped up as it flew in her direction.  It was all set on an intercept course, when the girl dropped her keys and stopped to retrieve them.  This forced it to make a change in direction and it slowed down.

                      The girl picked up her keys, looked up and that's when she noticed it.  She stared directly at it, wide eyed, as it closed in.

                      JOIN US.

                      The girl screamed, dropped her bag and started running back to the mall, right before it could catch her.  It pursued her as she ran towards the doors of a large store, but the girl was fast and she was able to gain on it.  The electric doors opened in front of her and she plunged through them screaming at the top of her lungs.  It headed right for the same entrance the girl had used.  But the doors slid closed right before it could enter.  From the outside it watched as the girl ran down the first aisle she found.

* * *

"I can't believe you suckered me into this," Xander grumbled.

                      Him and Buffy were trolling the housewares department of Sunnydale's newest addition to the mall complex: S-Mart.  They had opted for this store since they had never seen it from the inside and it had the parking lot closest to where they had pulled in.

                      "Well," Buffy argued, "now that you have a car, it is your duty to help out all your carless friends in moments of dire need."

                      "Dire need?" Xander countered sarcastically.  "We are, after all, talking about video tapes here."

                      "Hey, you don't know my mom when she can't tape her shows.  She makes Drusilla seem rational."

                      A little further down the aisle an S-Mart employee was going after a stack of toasters with a price gun.  He was in his mid thirties, tall and broad shouldered with dark hair and a square jaw.  For some reason he seemed to have what looked like the glove of a suit of armor on his right hand.  His S-Mart uniform shirt had the name _Ash stitched onto it._

                      "Excuse me," Buffy said stopping next to him.  "I'm looking for blank video tapes."

                      "Video tapes," the employee repeated.  "Home electronics; aisle ten."

                      Buffy thanked him and they walked on.

                      "Shop smart, shop S-Mart," the employee called after them.

                      Xander was about to strike up conversation again when he heard a scream coming from the front of the store.  Both him and Buffy spun around just to see Cordelia running down their aisle screaming for help frantically.

                      "Cordelia," Buffy said catching her.  "What's wrong?"

                      "No, let me go!" the brunette cried hysterically.  "It is after me!  Let me go!  Please, Buffy, let me go!"

                      Xander looked in the direction that Cordelia had come from.  Through the glass doors of the store he could see all the way into the parking lot, but there seemed to be nothing there.

                      Cordelia was still struggling trying to break Buffy's grip.

                      The scene had attracted Ash's attention.  He had stopped pricing the toasters and now was looking around, as if he was trying to find somebody.

                      "Cordelia," Xander said, trying his best to sound reassuring.  "There is nothing there.  Nothing's coming after you."

                      "You don't understand," she screamed.  "You can't see it.  But I knew it was there, I could feel it.  It said something to me, I think it was something like 'Join us.'"

                      Ash had been listening to this exchange and with that he dashed down the aisle towards the back of the store, throwing Xander against the shelves.

                      "Hey," Xander shouted after him as he watched the employee disappear through a door marked _Employees Only._

                      Cordelia was still pleading with Buffy to let her go, crying uncontrollably, but her struggling had gotten weaker and finally she just sank to the floor.

                      "I dropped my new pair of shoes outside," she sobbed resignedly.

                      "I knew there had to be a reason behind all the crying," Xander quipped.  Buffy shot him a dirty look, and Xander wished he hadn't made that comment.

                      A crash from the front of the store attracted their attention.  They saw the electric doors had violently been bent inward and the glass had shattered.  But no perpetrator was visible.

                      A cold breeze swept through the aisles, as a terrible silence fell over the store, causing more than the occasional case of goose bumps.  The breeze seemed to sweep towards a woman standing in a checkout line.

                      The woman suddenly spun around and screamed a ghastly scream.  Her skin had become a grayish blue color and flaky as though she had momentarily dried up.  But even more disturbing was that her eyes had turned completely white.

                      The people in the store panicked immediately and started rushing en masse for every conceivable exit, or even places that had never been conceived as exits.

                      The possessed woman stood limp for a moment then she was swept up into the air, hovering about a foot above the floor.

                      "We are the ones that were and shall be again," she said with a voice that sounded like a thousand tortured souls speaking in unison.

                      She reached out and grabbed a passing man by his neck and lifted him into the air.  With a quick move of her wrist she audibly broke his neck and then flung him across the store.  Finally she crashed limply to the floor, apparently dead.  All around the lifeless body the mayhem of fleeing patrons continued.

                      With all these things going on Xander hadn't noticed that Cordelia had begun screaming uncontrollably again next to him.  "There it is," she was screaming, desperately clutching to Buffy.  "It took that woman."

                      "Xander, you stay here with Cordelia," Buffy said passing the sobbing brunette to her friend.  "I wanna take a closer look at this."

                      Xander took Cordelia in his arms and he was instantly filled with an inner warmth.  He felt very protective, no matter what was out there he would not let it get to her.

                      By now the last of the S-Mart customers had cleared out of the store and peaceful silence had fallen over the aisles.  Even Cordelia seemed to calm down.  They watched as Buffy slowly moved down the aisle towards the corpse of the possessed woman.  She held a stake at the ready in her right hand.

                      Buffy stood over the lifeless form examining the dry, flaky skin and the expressionless face.  She looked back down the aisle to Xander and Cordelia, who were holding on to each other.  Buffy swallowed with some difficulty and slowly crouched down over the corpse.  She slowly reached out her left hand keeping the stake in her right ready.

                      An instant before Buffy's fingers touched the body the corpse's eyelids flipped opened revealing the all white eyeballs.  The corpse reached around, grabbed Buffy and threw her into a pyramid of canned beans, destroying the work of art that an underpaid teenager had probably labored all afternoon to create.

                      Xander considered rushing to Buffy's help for a moment but then decided against it.  He probably would just end up being in Buffy's way.  And besides Cordelia had a firm grip on him.

                      The corpse quickly jumped to its feet and started to move in on Buffy, who was trying to move out of the mess of tin cans but was already in a defensive stance.

                      "You shall die," the corpse screamed in its sinister voice and then attacked Buffy.

                      It swung at the slayer, but she caught the arm and kicked the corpse in the stomach and struck it a blow to the chin.  The corpse took a moment to collect itself then attacked again, this time connecting on a straight blow to Buffy's face.  The slayer spun around countered with a kick to the face and finally lodged her stake in the possessed woman chest.  Blood spurted out of the wound and onto Buffy's hand and the sleeve of her vest.  Her hand recoiled when the warm liquid splashed all over it.  She wasn't used to it since vampires didn't bleed when they got staked.

                      The corpse stumbled backwards looking at the piece of wood lodged in its chest.  Then it reached for the stake and slowly pulled it out.  The bleeding worsened when the stake was removed, then suddenly subsided.

                      "Is that all you got?" it sneered.

                      _Oh shit, Buffy thought, __how the hell do you kill this thing?_

                      Xander spun around when he heard the door marked _Employees Only crash open and out of it stepped a tall figure.  Xander didn't recognize him right away but it was Ash, the S-Mart employee with the price gun.  Only it seemed he had traded his price gun in to upgrade his artillery.  The stock of a shotgun that was strapped to his back could be seen over his shoulder and gone was the mysterious metal hand.  In it's place he had a red, beat up chainsaw attached directly to his wrist.  Ash yanked at the rip chord and revved up the saw as he slowly stepped towards the two fighting figures at the front of the store.  Xander and Cordelia pressed themselves against the shelves to give Ash more than plenty of room as he passed by them._

                      "Yo, girly-girl!" he yelled.  "Get outta the way, 'cause the cavalry just arrived."  And with that he pulled the double-barreled, sawed off shotgun out of the holster on his back.

                      Buffy struck one last blow to the demon then dove for cover.

                      "It's showtime," Ash said.

                      He fired once, then twice into the demon's chest.

                      The corpse was startled for a moment, stumbling backwards from the impact of the shells.  Ash revved the chainsaw again and ran towards the demon.  The corpse saw him coming, jumped and flipped over him.  Ash stopped, spun around, only to be caught in the face by the demon's punches.  Then it grabbed Ash's head and started bashing it against a shelf.

                      Buffy quickly picked up a can of beans off the floor and hurled it at the corpse hitting it right in the face.  The demon was startled and let got of Ash's head.  Ash sank down to his knees, shook his head to clear the beating induced cobwebs and quickly brought the chainsaw around and cut into the corpse.  It screamed in agony as the saw buried itself into the corpse's side, sending blood spurting everywhere.  When the blade emerged on the other side the demon collapsed to the floor in two pieces, instantly forming a pool of blood.  The legs started kicking randomly, while the torso took a hold of Ash's leg and sank its teeth into him.

                      "Aaahhhh," Ash screamed, "you little bastard!"

                      Since he had shot both his shells at the beginning of the fight he started hitting the head lodged on his calf with the stock of his shotgun.

                      "Ow!" the demon yelped every time it suffered a blow to the head, but it's jaws remained clenched.

                      Ash's eyes fell onto the crowbars that had been on sale for the past week.

                      "Catch, blondie," he yelled before throwing his shotgun to Buffy.  She caught it and Ash grabbed a crowbar.  "Eat this," he said applying the crowbar to the demons jaws, hoping to get some leverage.  Finally he found purchase and pried the rogue torso off his leg.  Ash got down on one knee and plunged the chainsaw into the demon's chest.  He started laughing maniacally as blood was sent flying everywhere, soaking Ash's shirt and covering his face.

                      When the corpse stopped struggling he pulled the blade out of it, stood up and let the chainsaw die.  Slowly Buffy and Xander converged on Ash staring in horror at the bloodied carcass.  Cordelia stayed put, she wasn't about to get anywhere near all that blood.  Red really would clash with her clothes today.

                      As they watched the corpse they could see that it was still moving, although it was very weak.

                      "How do we kill it?" Buffy asked.

                      "We can't," Ash answered taking his shotgun back from her.  "The best we can do is bodily dismemberment."

                      Ash quickly reloaded his shotgun with his one good hand and snapped it shut.

                      The demon looked up at the trio standing over it.  "You will all die," it said.  "We will come back for you.  One by one we will take you!"

                      A fly, that everybody had been too busy to notice, went in for a landing on the corpse's face.  It was safe to assume that it had been attracted by the odor.

                      "Hang on," Ash said squinting down, "is that a fly sitting on your face?"

                      "A fly?"  The corpse tried to focus its eyes on its own nose, as its arms twitched, but were too weak to reach up and swat it away.  "Where?"

                      Ash pointed the shotgun down and pulled the trigger, splattering the corpse's head all over the place.

                      "There.  It's gone now."

                      He looked up at Xander.  "Quick, aisle five, get some trash bags, the ones with the strappy things on top."  Then he turned to Buffy.  "Aisle, seven, get some towels and a shovel from hardware."

                      Both Buffy and Xander ran off, as Ash holstered his shotgun.  Suddenly Buffy skidded to a halt and turned back to Ash.

                      "Video tapes," she called back.

                      "Aisle ten," Ash answered, before adding his customary "Shop smart, shop S-Mart."  Then he revved up his chainsaw.


	3. Part II

Waking Up The Evil Dead

by Random

***

DISCLAIMER:  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all its characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and the WB Network.  "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," "Army of Darkness" and all their characters and names are property of Sam Raimi and Renaissance Pictures.  "Splattermania" written by Ginger, published by Warner Chappel Music Ltd.  "Far Beyond Metal" written by Devin Townsend, Gene Hoglan, Jed Simon, Byron Stroud and John Paul Morgan, published by Bucket of Nothing Music.

DESCRIPTION:  Buffy/Evil Dead crossover.  A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed by an evil force.  Now it's up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.

RATING:  R

FEEDBACK:  Yes, please!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This was my very first Buffy fanfiction that I wrote way back in 1999.  It takes place towards the end of season three.  Thanks to Kent for pointing out my glaring omission of the term "boomstick."  And thanks to Devin, Ginger and Jason for all the music.

NOTE:  This fic's original title was "There's Something Evil In The Parking Lot".

* * *

PART II

* * *

"You did what?" Giles asked wide-eyed.

                      "We cut the sucker up and buried it," Ash answered setting down a heavy bag of supplies on the library table, next to the bags that Buffy and Xander had hauled in and the shopping bag that Cordelia had retrieved from the parking lot.

                      "And it was dead then?" the watcher inquired.

                      "Not quite," Xander said wiping some sweat from his brow.  "One of the disembodied hands tried to strangle me while the other one was feeling Cordelia up."

                      Giles turned and looked at the cheerleader who promptly turned a bright shade of red.  This time she didn't care that the color clashed with her clothing.

                      "It was very much like a demented Addams Family episode," Buffy added.

                      Ash unzipped the duffel bag before him and started unloading several handguns and shotguns onto the table.  The second bag revealed an arsenal off ammunition of all kinds, while the third held a Bazooka, an AK-47 and Ash's beat up chainsaw.

                      Giles looked on in disbelief as his library was turned into an armory.  "Buffy?" he muttered.  "Why all the guns?"

                      Ash answered for her.  "Blondie says that she is some sort of vampire killer."

                      "Slayer," Buffy and Giles said in unison.

                      "Yeah, sure," Ash said derisively.  "Look, if you wanna believe in vampires suit yourselves.  But the deadites are tough suckers, those little wooden sticks ain't gonna do nothing to them."  Ash held up his sawed off shotgun and added, "But my boomstick here has gotten me out of many a fix.  So we 'borrowed' the merchandise from S-Mart.  Unfortunately the tank we have on order hasn't come in yet."

                      "And what's in the bag at the end," Giles asked pointing at Cordelia's shopping bag."

                      "Nothing," Xander answered, "just Cordy indulging her shoe fetish."

                      The cheerleader shot him a dirty look for that comment which he chose to ignore.

                      Ash took a look around the library then turned back to Giles.  "Fluffy also said you've got the book."

                      "For the millionth time: my name is Buffy," Buffy fumed.

                      "Yeah," Ash laughed, "like _that's any more of a name!"_

                      "The book?" Giles muttered, still confused by the present state of things.  "Oh, the Necronomicon!  Yes, it's in my office."  He ran off to retrieve it.

                      Xander picked up the AK-47 and an ammunitions clip and loaded the rifle with a few quick moves, making it look like he had practiced it a million times before.  He drew some raised eyebrows from his cohorts.  "What?" he asked sheepishly, when he noticed everybody looking at him.  "Remember Halloween?"

                      "Soldier Boy, thinks he's all cool cause he's got a big gun now," Ash muttered to himself.

                      A moment or two later Giles reemerged from his office, Necronomicon in hand.  "Now, Mr…-" he gave Ash an inquisitive look.

                      "Name's Ash," he answered.  "Housewares."

                      "Quite," Giles muttered.  "So, Mr. Ash, you say you have come across these demons before?"

                      "Yes, several years ago," Ash said sitting down in one of the chairs around the table.  "I had traveled out to a cabin in the middle of nowhere with my girlfriend Linda.  There I found the book and a tape recorder with the translated spell.  I played the tape and it unleashed that thing on us.  I took Linda.  Then it got my hand."  He looked down at the metal glove on his right arm.  "I had to cut it off at the wrist."

                      Cordelia shuddered slightly as she thought about that.

                      "With a little help I was finally able to push the dark spirit through a rift in space and time.  But it swallowed my car and me too.  I ended up medieval England.  There I had to fight a whole army of those deadites.  Finally one of the wisemen was able to send me back to this time.  I was back at S-Mart living my life in peace.  And now you morons come along and set that spirit free again."  Ash was gradually getting angrier and finally he just yelled, "Don't you people ever think about what you are translating and what the spell can cause if you recite it out loud?"

                      "I wouldn't dream of doing that," Giles answered.  "Unfortunately somebody, presumably one of the vampires, did it before we were able to get to the book."

                      "Pffft," Ash scoffed, "there you go with your freaking vampires again."

                      "You said that you were able to push the evil spirit through a rift in time and space?"  Giles asked and Ash nodded in response.  "How were you able to do that?"

                      "It's all in the book," Ash replied.  "There's two passages.  One to make the spirit appear in the flesh and another one to create the rift.  But this time figure out how to close the rift beforehand.  Can you translate the text?"

                      "Yes," Giles mused.  "But I'll need help.  Buffy, page Willow and Oz and get them over here.  It's gonna be a long night."

                      "You have no idea," Ash muttered to himself.

* * *

The van stopped by the back door of the library.

                             "Go in and get started," Oz said.  "I'll make a snack run."

                             "Be careful," Willow answered.  "Sounds like the situation is pretty precarious."

                             "Precarious?" Oz smiled.  "I love it when you talk smart!"

                             He gave his girlfriend a quick kiss on the lips and watched her get out, then pulled away to get snacks.

                             Willow entered the library through the door at the back of the stacks and was quite surprised by what she saw.  Giles was engrossed in that creepy book bound in human skin that Buffy had found, Cordelia was bringing a big stack of books to him, Xander was fiddling with what seemed to be a high-powered assault rifle, Buffy was worrying at a shotgun in her hand and some stranger was sitting at the table cleaning a chainsaw.  She hoped that it wasn't blood that the stranger's shirt was covered in, but she had a bad feeling that it was.  Nobody seemed to have noticed her coming in.

                             Willow cleared her throat.  "Hey, guys."

                             The stranger instantly dropped his chainsaw, grabbed a shotgun and pointed it right between Willows eyes.  "Who are you," he demanded.

                             "Whoa, Ash," Xander exclaimed.  "Calm down.  That's Willow, she's with us."

                             The new guy looked at Willow for a moment longer.  "Aren't there any grown ups in this town?" he groaned.  "This is turning into a B-Movie!"  Finally he put the gun down and resumed tinkering with his chainsaw.  Willow looked at the arsenal of weapons spread out on the table and didn't like what she saw at all.

                             "I'm happy to see we're not on edge," Willow said sarcastically.  "What's the occasion?"

                             "The vampires were able to release an evil spirit into our dimension and we have to translate the passages that stop it," Giles answered, taking the opportunity to clean his glasses.  "I need you to get on the net and see if you can find anything on some of these characters."

                             Willow walked around to Giles side and picked up a piece of paper on which he had jotted down some notes about what he wanted her to find.

                             "Where's Oz," Buffy asked.

                             "Oh, he's out making a snack run.  He'll be right back."

                             Willow sat down at the computer and within short time was completely engrossed in her task.

* * *

It was moving in on a parking lot again.  But this time it was moving in on the high school building.  The lot was mostly empty and no lights were on in the building.  It slowly moved along one wall and finally saw a row of windows with light shining through them.  It flew up to a window and looked in on the scene inside.

                             A few people were moving around inside going after their own business.  It recognized the girl that it tried to get to earlier in the mall.

                             JOIN US.

* * *

Cordelia screamed and looked around the room frantically.  She could see nothing out of the ordinary, but she was sure she had heard it.

                             "Cordy, what's wrong?" Xander asked.

                             "Did you hear anything?"  She was slowly inching her way to the center of the room.

                             The others looked around and at each other then shook their heads.  "We didn't hear anything," Buffy said reassuringly putting her hand on Cordelia's shoulder.  "We're all very nervous.  Maybe you just imagined it."

                             "No I didn't," Cordelia responded.  "I heard it.  It said 'join us' again."

                             Ash grabbed his shotgun and looked around the room.  "It's out there," he announced.  "It's watching us, waiting for the right time to strike."

                             Cordelia felt tears running down her face.  The others didn't know, except for Ash maybe.  They hadn't felt it, they didn't know the incredible evil that was lurking outside.

* * *

It was watching the scene that was unfolding inside the library, when it heard something pass by behind it.  A van was pulling into the parking lot.  It slowly followed the vehicle as it headed into the main lot.  The van pulled around and stopped in a space facing the direction that it was coming from.

                             It could see the orange haired kid inside rooting around, trying to collect all the bags he had with him.  He was so busy that he didn't even notice it approaching.

                             It speeded up and raced towards the van.  The kid screamed as it broke through the windshield.

* * *

Willow came out of the bathroom shaking her hands dry.  They had run out of paper towels again and of course the dispensers hadn't been filled up.

                             Cordelia was really starting to freak her out.  Willow had been told what had happened earlier, but she wasn't really sure what to make of it.  What Cordelia had experienced in the mall parking lot seemed to have been really bad, yet she had been completely unable to describe it.

                             She set off down the hallway leading back to the library when she heard her name being called from behind her.

                             "Willow…"

                             She stopped and turned around.  All she saw was a deserted hallway, which made her wonder whether she had heard anything at all.  But the voice had seemed so very familiar.

                             "Oz?" she called out tentatively.

                             Her voice echoed around the walls for a few seconds before giving way to total silence again.

                             "Yeah," Oz's voice called back all of a sudden, startling Willow.  "Can you help me with these bags?"

                             "Oh, sure" she answered, breaking into a run down the hallway.  But as she got further down the hall she still saw no sign of her boyfriend.  She stopped and took in her surroundings.  "Oz?" she whispered.

                             The door to the classroom behind Willow burst open and suddenly there was an arm around her neck while something bit into her shoulder.

                             Willow screamed.

* * *

"Willow?" Xander said as he heard the scream coming from the hallway.

                             Xander scooped up his rifle and ran out of the library doors.  Ash quickly removed his metal hand and attached the chainsaw to his right stump.  Then he grabbed the bazooka off the table and headed after Xander.

                             Xander tried his best to follow his friend's screams and finally he found her struggling with somebody holding her from behind.  He assumed that it was Oz because of the mop of orange hair in top, but otherwise it bore no resemblance to Willow's boyfriend.  His first instinct was to shoot, but it was too close to Willow and he was afraid to hit the wrong person.  So Xander quickly flipped his gun around and hit the assailant in the head with the stock.

                             This seemed to have surprised the demonified Oz as it let go of Willow.  Xander quickly scooped her behind himself and admonished her to stay back.  Xander again leveled a blow at the deadite Oz with his gun, which sent it reeling for a moment.  But it quickly regained its bearings, grabbed Xander by the shoulder and started savagely punching him in the face.

                             The deadite got in a good many punches before Xander was able to turn his AK-47 around and point the barrel at its chest and pull the trigger.  The possessed Oz's chest exploded in a torrent of blood and it let go of Xander and stumbled backwards a few steps.  It examined the hole in its chest for a moment before looking up at Xander in disbelief.

                             "Keep shooting," Ash screamed in the dazed Xander's ear.  "Drive him further back, see if you can get some distance between him and us."

                             Instinctively Xander squeezed the trigger again and kept firing at the demon before him as the hail of bullets slowly pushed it down the hallway.  When Xander's clip was empty Xander suddenly heard a loud roar next to him and he saw a rocket careen towards the deadite.  The projectile exploded on impact with the deadite splattering it all over the walls and ceiling.

                             "That's gotta hurt," Xander heard Ash mutter next to him.

                             Xander took in the freshly redecorated hallway for a few moments.  "I wonder why nobody ever thought of painting the hallway red before," he mused.  "It's a good color."

                             "The janitors are going to curse us for this tomorrow morning," Willow added.

                             "Don't worry," Xander replied.  "The lunch lady will probably scrape him off the walls and serve him."

* * *

"Willow are you okay?" Buffy asked as the group reentered the library.

                             Willow nodded clutching her shoulder, which was bleeding slightly.

                             "Where's Oz?" Buffy added when she noticed the boy missing.

                             "Whatever is out there got to him," Willow said sadly.  "It possessed him, he attacked me.  Oz is dead."

                             "Dead?" Buffy exclaimed.  "Does that mean there's not gonna be any snacks?"

                             Xander dropped his head sadly.  "No snacks," he muttered unnecessarily.

                             "No snacks?" Buffy repeated.  "That means if that spirit out there doesn't get to us, then we'll starve to death."

                             Ash walked over to where Giles was sitting, his eyes glued to the pages of the Necronomicon.  "How are we doing?" Ash asked.

                             Giles looked up for a moment, blinking his eyes to get them into focus after staring at the book for too long.  "We're making progress," he sighed.  "Slowly but steadily."

                             "That's it," Buffy fumed.  "I'm going to get food.  Anybody want to come with me?"

                             "You won't be able to," Cordelia said taking everybody by surprise.  She was sitting by one of the library's windows, solemnly staring out into the night.  Her expression was a mixture of resigned bravery and budding despair.  "You can't get out of here."

                             The rest of the group except for Giles ran up behind her and looked out the window.  They were completely stumped by what they saw.

                             "The parking lot…" Xander stammered.  "The exits are gone."

                             On first inspection everything seemed normal outside the window.  But as they kept looking around they started noticing that all ways to exit the campus had disappeared.  They couldn't quite put their finger on how, but all they knew was that there was no way to get beyond the parking lot.

                             "We're trapped," Cordelia whispered.  "It took Oz.  It's gonna come back and take each and every one of us."

                             Xander stepped back from the window and considered their predicament for a few moments.  "So basically," he speculated, "we're a group of teenagers trapped in a building with no apparent help from outside, with an evil spirit roaming on the outside waiting to possess and kill us one by one."  His face clouded over.  "We're trapped in a horror movie cliché," he concluded heavily.

                             "Well, let's get back to work to get ourselves out of B-Movie hell," Buffy said.

* * *

About an hour later Giles, Buffy and Xander were immersed in books in deep research mode, Willow was working on the computer, Ash was taking stock of their firepower while Cordelia was still staring out the window.

                             Suddenly Willow looked up and a smile unfolded across her face.  "Hey, guys," she announced happily, "I think you should take a look at this."

                             Giles, Xander and Buffy quickly ran behind the counter to see what Willow wanted to show them.  She was scrolling through an obscure web page filled with symbols similar to the ones in the Necronomicon and lengthy explanations.

                             "That is remarkable," Giles muttered to himself as he skimmed over the contents.

                             "Oh, you think this is remarkable," Willow said smugly.  "Well, check this out."

                             Willow opened a blank screen and started typing at a frantic pace that impressed everyone present.  But then they grew more concerned as her speed increased.  They looked in horror at what was appearing on the screen.

JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US JOIN US…

                             Xander noticed that Willow's skin was changing color, starting from the spot where Oz had bitten her, which they had bandaged earlier.

                             Willow's head suddenly spun around and she hissed at her cohorts, her eyes completely whited out.  Then Willow quickly grabbed Giles' head and rammed it through the glass of the computer monitor.  Giles passed out with his head inside the monitor, while all Xander and Buffy could do was scream.  The possessed Willow quickly stood on its chair and vaulted over the library counter, where Ash stood waiting for it.  The deadite kicked Ash in the face and then flipped over him.

                             Ash quickly pulled out his shotgun from the holster on his back and lowered it at the deadite's head.  "Say good night, Willow," he said.

                             "Good night, Willow," the demon spat back at him.

                             Ash was about to pull the trigger when he heard Buffy scream behind him.

                             "Ash, no!"

                             He quickly lowered his gun and gave the demon a powerful kick to the chest putting his whole weight into it, which sent it stumbling backwards into the cage used to lock up Oz when he became a werewolf.  Ash quickly flipped the door shut before the deadite could regroup and mount another attack.

                             The possessed Willow jumped up against the cage rattling it and snarling at everybody the way her boyfriend used to do every time the moon was full.

                             "Is this gonna hold her?" Ash yelled at no one in particular.  "It doesn't look too safe."

                             "It's strong enough to hold Oz," Buffy answered still slightly dazed, "whenever he becomes a werewolf."

                             "Werewolf?" Ash cried in desperation.  "You screwheads believe in those too?"

                             Xander and Buffy slowly approached the cage looking in disbelief at what used to be their best friend.  It was still somewhat recognizable as Willow's body, but her skin had turned the same flaky blue gray color of the other deadites.  It had ripped the bandage of its shoulder exposing a nasty wound, which was slowly oozing blood.  The deadite stood with its hands on the cage, its raspy, deliberate breathing audible throughout the library.  Its eyes were darting back and forth although the lack of pupils made it hard to tell who it was looking at.

                             "You think this is enough to stop us?" it screamed in its demonic voice.  "We will take you all and then we will feast upon your souls!"

                             "Shut up!" Buffy yelled at the demon, tears running down her cheeks.

                             "Join us!" it shrieked and then it started chanting.  "Join us, join us, join us…."  The deadite also did a little dance to complement its chant.  It reminded everybody of one of the more incompetent after-touchdown jigs.  It was however far too demonic to be described in this story.

                             "Shut up!" Buffy repeated trying to scream over the demon's chant.  Xander could see Buffy eyeing the array of weapons on the table, wondering whether to pick one up and shoot her one time best friend.

                             "What are you gonna do, girly?" the deadite hissed.  "Are you gonna shoot me, huh?  You can't kill me!"

                             Buffy scooped up a shotgun and fired a round to the demon's chest, which sent it flying against the back wall.  Finally it collapsed to the floor in an untidy heap.

                             "No," Buffy said, "but I can shut you up."


	4. Part III

Waking Up The Evil Dead

by Random

***

DISCLAIMER:  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all its characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and the WB Network.  "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," "Army of Darkness" and all their characters and names are property of Sam Raimi and Renaissance Pictures.  "Splattermania" written by Ginger, published by Warner Chappel Music Ltd.  "Far Beyond Metal" written by Devin Townsend, Gene Hoglan, Jed Simon, Byron Stroud and John Paul Morgan, published by Bucket of Nothing Music.

DESCRIPTION:  Buffy/Evil Dead crossover.  A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed by an evil force.  Now it's up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.

RATING:  R

FEEDBACK:  Yes, please!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This was my very first Buffy fanfiction that I wrote way back in 1999.  It takes place towards the end of season three.  Thanks to Kent for pointing out my glaring omission of the term "boomstick."  And thanks to Devin, Ginger and Jason for all the music.

NOTE:  This fic's original title was "There's Something Evil In The Parking Lot".

* * *

PART III

* * *

"Is this going to help us?" Buffy asked looking past Giles' bandaged head at the computer screen that they had scavenged from one of the computer labs.

                             Giles was scrolling through the web site that Willow had found before she had been possessed.  "Yes," he muttered, completely absorbed in his reading.  "This is indeed going to be a big help in translating the text."

                             "Do you want some tea," Xander asked Cordelia, offering her a steaming mug.

                             He had found her crouched in the corner of the room furthest away from both the windows and the deadite that was watching them from its cell.

                             "Thank you," she said taking the mug from Xander.  She took a sip from it then placed it on the floor beside her and went back to hugging her knees.

                             "Do you mind if I sit down?" Xander asked tentatively.

                             "Knock yourself out," the girl responded without looking up at him.

                             Xander sat down next to her and found himself with nothing to say.  He had never seen Cordelia quite like this.  Even though she didn't have Buffy's slayer powers he had always admired her for her bravery.  She also had a talent for not letting anything get to her.  But ever since they had run into her at the store she had seemed completely different.  He didn't know what she had encountered in the mall's parking lot and he had not been able to comprehend it from her descriptions.  But whatever it had been it had had a profound impact on Cordelia.  Ever since then she had been quiet and had kept herself in the background.  If they were going to beat this evil spirit they were going to need her help.

                             "Are you alright?" Xander asked lamely.

                             "Do I look alright?" Cordelia shot back sarcastically.

                             "You look like hell," Xander answered with a smile and they shared a brief laugh.  "Which by human standards is still stunningly beautiful."

                             Again there was a moment of uneasy silence between them.

                             "Look," Xander stammered, "about Willow and me…-"

                             He trailed off waiting for Cordelia to interrupt him, to make fun of him, to yell at him or tell him she didn't want to hear about it.  But all she did was look at him and raise her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

                             That caught him off guard.  Xander had been expecting the easy way out, being yelled at and not having to explain himself.  Now he had to find a way to put his thoughts and feelings into words.

                             "Well?" Cordelia asked.  "Are you gonna say something or do you want me to guess?"

                             "You're not making this very easy on me," Xander complained.

                             "Why should I make it easy on you?"

                             "Touché," Xander conceded.  He took another moment to organize his thoughts.  "When that whole thing with Willow happened, I didn't know what I wanted.  I was happy yet scared with you.  I have seen how you used to treat your boyfriends.  From one day to the next you'd break up with them, for no apparent reason, except maybe you got bored with them.  So maybe to a certain extent I wanted to at least give you a reason to break up with me."

                             "Well, congratulations," Cordelia said.  "You succeeded."

                             "Yes, and in the process destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me.  Look, Cordy, maybe I didn't give you enough credit, you have changed a lot in the past two years.  And so have I, especially lately.  I said that I used to be afraid that you would break up with me.  The only thing I'm afraid of now is to never get a chance to set things right with you."

                             Cordelia gave him a smile.  "But you also have to see things from my point of view," she said.  "I was really falling for you.  I have never felt about anybody they way that I felt about you.  And when I saw you with Willow, it was as if you ripped my heart out and did your best Fred Astaire impression on it.  That was pretty devastating for me."

                             "I know," Xander conceded.  "And I'm truly sorry.  But the one thing it did show me is how much I care about you and how much I miss you."

                             That evoked another soft smile from Cordelia.  "You're not just saying this because Willow was turned into a walking corpse?" she asked nodding towards the caged up demon.

                             Xander shook his head sheepishly.

                             "I'll make you a deal," she said.  "If we live through this, you can take me out to dinner and we'll see where we stand."

                             "Deal," Xander laughed.  "Well, now that we've gotten past our token angsty moment, maybe we should join the others and see if we can dispel this evil thingy out there."

                             They were about to get up when they heard the sinister voice of the caged deadite.  "Oh, I miss you, Cordelia," it spat mockingly.  "I love you, Cordelia.  He wasn't saying any of that while he was making out with Willow."

                             "Shut up," Xander yelled.  He was about ready to storm the cage, but Cordelia held him back and shook her head.

                             The deadite just laughed its diabolical laugh.

                             Xander and Cordelia walked around behind the check out counter, where Giles and Buffy were at the computer, working on their translation of the Necronomicon, while Ash was trying to help out by relaying accounts of his previous experiences with the book and the deadites.

                             "How are we doing?" Cordelia asked.

                             "We're well on our way," Giles answered.  "We should be ready in maybe an hour."

                             As they breathed a collective sigh of relief they heard something stir in the stacks.

                      "Anybody else hear that?" Ash asked hesitantly as he pulled his shotgun out of its holster, stood up from his chair at the table and slowly backed a way from the stacks.

                      "What the spooky noise coming from the stacks?" Xander inquired.  "Um, no, we didn't hear that," he offered unconvincingly.

                      "Do you think there's something back there?" Cordelia wondered.

                      "There can't be," Buffy stated.  "We barricaded the back door right after that whole mess with Oz, and as far as we know that thing can't get through walls."

                      "Well, somebody's gonna have to go look then," Cordelia suggested.  Instinctively they all turned to Ash.

                      "Famous last words," Xander mumbled to himself.

                      It took a moment until it dawned on Ash that they were all looking at him because they wanted him to go investigate.  "No, no, no, wait a second," he said.  "This is not my problem.  I didn't bring that thing into our world.  I've done my share of fighting.  You screw around with the book, you go dance when it comes asking."

                      "Wait a second," Buffy argued.  "I thought you were here to help."

                      "Help," Ash laughed incredulously.  "I'm here to survive.  I don't care what you do, but I'm making sure that I see the sunrise tomorrow."

                             "Oh, great," Cordelia yelled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  "First we have to endure your Indiana Jones on crack routine and now that things get tough you're the first one to run?"

                      "Listen, sister," Ash argued pointing his chainsaw-sporting arm at the group assembled around the computer, "I got mixed up in this by accident.  Ok, it might not be the first time, but you are the ones that claim to be the professionals with this sort of thing.  So why don't you send paramilitary boy over there?"

                      Xander swallowed hard.  He had little desire to go anywhere at this point and his gun gave him very little comfort.

                      Luckily for him the attention was deflected away from this argument when a book came flapping out of the stacks, using its covers for wings.  They stared in silence as it flew around the library for a few moments before diving straight for Ash.  Ash screamed as the book collided with his face and knocked him on his back.  He landed on the floor with a heavy thud and the book firmly affixed to his face in a fashion not unlike the one popularized by the movie _Alien._

                      "Aaagggghhhhhhh!!!!" Ash screamed.  "Help!  Get this thing off me!  Aaaaaggghhhhh!!!!"

                      "Look," Buffy pointed out unnecessarily.  "The book has firmly affixed itself to his face in a fashion not unlike the one popularized by the movie _Alien!"_

                      By now Ash had taken to trashing about with a bit of flailing of the limbs thrown in for spice.

                      "We should probably help him," Cordelia suggested helpfully.

                      "Yeah," Xander agreed.  "But what can we about a book that has firmly affixed itself to his face in a fashion not unlike the one popularized by the movie _Alien?"_

                      "I don't know," Buffy conceded.  "What did they do in the movie again?"

                      "Nothing," Cordelia answered.  "The thing got off by itself and died.  Of course that brought on some fairly far reaching repercussions for the rest of the crew."

                      "Excuse me," Ash called from the floor.  "But, in case you have forgotten, I have a book firmly affixed to my face in a fashion not unlike the one popularized by the movie _Alien.  Now before this turns into some kind of running gag can we try and get it off?  I think its trying to slip me the tongue."_

                      With that Buffy and Xander vaulted over the counter, while Cordelia took the detour through Giles' office, to rush to Ash's help.  It took the combined effort of all three to pry the rogue book off of Ash's face.  The book put up a valiant struggle but finally conceded defeat and flew out of everybody's hands.  It circled the library a few times and the disappeared back into the stacks.

                      Xander helped Ash off the floor.

                      "That was surreal," Buffy commented.

                      "I'll see your surreal," Xander responded, "And I'll raise you a bizarre."

                      The other three nodded in agreement and turned back to Giles who was still sitting at the computer terminal engrossed in his task.

                      Suddenly the stacks seemed abuzz with noise.  All the books were slowly trembling in their place on the shelves.  The noise grew louder with each passing moment.

                      "I don't like this at all," Ash commented starting up his chainsaw.

                      Only moments later each and every book flew off its shelf and into the library, some of them even in formation.  They rained down on their victims below as they started flailing, screaming and even running in circles trying to get the books off that were gnawing at their limbs.  Since we are working with movie clichés, the whole scene was very reminiscent of _The Birds._

                      Ash slashed out randomly with his chainsaw cutting quite a few books into ribbons but the reinforcements from the stacks seemed to be inexhaustible.  Every book was called to active duty, from worn out paperbacks to dictionaries to huge reference books.  The smaller books were relentless in their attacks drawing the target's attention away from the large books circling overhead, waiting for their chance to strike.  When such a chance presented itself the heavy books went into a dive right for their victim's head, and collided with them forcefully.

                      Giles had curled up in the fetal position under the library's return counter, but a few paperbacks had found him and were pestering him.  Xander was trying to shield Cordelia from the onslaught with moderate success, while Buffy was wielding a chair to protect herself.

Nobody really noticed the deadite that had once been Willow cackling diabolically in its cage.  It was throwing itself against the cage in an attempt to free itself, but all the effort was in vain.

                      Meanwhile the battle with the flying books raged on.  The floor was covered in dismembered pages, wounded books flailing on the floor and books for which all help was too late.  There were no cries for medics that were indigenous to battlefields.  There were however a few calls for a bookbinder.

                      Xander had heard about getting immersed in literature before but this was ridiculous.  He had been hit over the head twice with a book three times the size of the yellow pages, he had four hardbacks gnawing at his legs and a pocket dictionary in his underwear.  He was busy trying to keep a swarm of paperbacks away from the table that Cordelia was cowering under.

                      Ash on the other hand was up to his knees in what amounted to confetti, producing a small snowstorm as he took his chainsaw to any book that came within a few feet of him.  Giles was happy that he didn't have to witness the carnage inflicted onto his prized possessions as he sat under the counter fighting off a small squadron of science books.

                      And then, as suddenly as it had started, the onslaught stopped.  Every book dropped out of the air and hit the ground or the hapless person standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

                      Ash looked around the room as he let his chainsaw idle and die off.  The books lay motionless all over the library floor and the stacks behind were virtually empty.  Xander helped Cordelia out from under the table and Giles slowly emerged from under the counter.  Even the deadite had stopped thrashing around in its cage.  They stood looking at each other in the deafening silence.

                      Finally Giles spoke up.  "Um, where's Buffy?"

* * *

"Okay, are we ready?" Xander asked checking the safety on his AK-47.

                             "Yup," Ash answered succinctly, with his shotgun in his left hand and the chainsaw at the ready on his right stump.

                             "Now, you guys be careful," Cordelia warned as she stuck a fire axe into Xander's backpack.  "And find Buffy and bring her back."

                             They were standing in front of the library doors, armed to the tees and ready to go on a slayer hunt.  After the attack of the killer books they had searched the library but they had been unable to discover Buffy's whereabouts.  The deadite Willow had been laughing at them throughout the whole ordeal, threatening to swallow all their souls.  They had given it little heed, as they grew more concerned for Buffy.  So Ash and Xander had volunteered to comb the school while Cordelia and Giles finished up the translation of the text.

                             "Alright, don't go taking any stupid risks," Cordelia mothered them.  "If you think something is funky make sure you get backup before you investigate."

                             "Yes, mom," Xander joked, while Ash just scoffed at being given advice by somebody half his age.

                             Cordelia gave Xander a quick kiss on his cheek.  "You look like Rambo without the steroids," she remarked.

                             "Let's do this," Ash said.  Xander nodded and they both set off down the hallway in opposite directions.

                             Cordelia watched Xander recede down the dimly lit hall before she ducked back into the library to return to the task at hand.

                             Xander slowly walked along the rows of lockers holding on to his gun like a security blanket.  He didn't particularly care for guns and he was happy that in their day to day routine, fighting vampires, guns weren't necessary.  He knew everything about all sorts of firearms, the little experience he had had at Halloween had insured that, but they nonetheless filled him with a sense of dread.  Oh, what he'd give right now to be facing the Master again, a simple wooden stake being the most effective weapon.  But extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures and in this case for an AK-47 and a fire axe.

                             Another thing that worried Xander was that it was Buffy who was gone.  Of all the people it probably would be the worst to lose her.  She was the Slayer after all; she had the superpower thing going on.  Xander forcefully pushed the idea of losing Buffy out of his mind, he had to stay positive.

                             His musings about Buffy brought up another train of thought.  He was relieved and happy that it wasn't Cordelia who was gone.  He felt terribly guilty for feeling that way, but he also couldn't stand the thought of losing Cordelia.  Especially now that they seemed to have taken the first step towards sorting out their problems.

                             Thinking about Cordelia made things even harder.  He had to focus on the situation at hand.  So Buffy was missing; maybe she had just gone to the bathroom… for half an hour.  What did she have for dinner again?  That made sense didn't it?  Well not really, Xander had to concede, but it would have to do for now.

                             It always amazed Xander when he thought about how much his world had changed ever since Buffy had arrived in Sunnydale.  Before he had lived in blissful ignorance, knowing nothing about the hellmouth, vampires and countless demons.  Now here he was walking down the hallway of his school with a high-powered assault rifle in his hands and a fire axe in his backpack after being attacked by a library full of flying books.  Now, he had to admit, he really had seen it all.

                             Xander was surprised by how sinister the hallway, which he had walked down so many times before without a second thought, looked.  During the day these halls were filed with students and their inane chatter as they went about their business worrying about nothing more than pop quizzes or whether they will get their own car.  But now that same hallway, devoid of students and in semi darkness, seemed to be hiding danger everywhere.  Every locker potentially hid unseen horror, every poster could have a death threat scrawled on it and some unspeakable evil could be lurking behind the next corner.  Under normal circumstances this could be written off as the overactive imagination of a teenage mind.  But Xander had seen too much; he knew what was drooling under the bed, he knew what went bump in the night and the same went for innumerable other clichés that he didn't want to bother with right then.

                             Xander shuddered slightly as he passed by the spot that had recently been given a fresh coating of undead Oz.

                             Xander's train of thought was interrupted when he noticed that the light in the music room was on.  He slowly approached the door and peeked in through the window.  When Xander was sure that the room was empty he turned the knob and let the door swing open in front of him.  He entered the room with his gun at the ready, scanning it for potential hiding places.  He checked behind the teacher's desk and then walked over to the windows.  He stared out into the parking lot for a long moment, not sure what he was looking for.  Whatever evil force had been tormenting them was still out there.

                             "Here you are," a familiar voice said from behind him.  "I've been looking for you."

                             Xander wheeled around to see Buffy stand in the doorway.  With relief he noted that she looked normal, she was not possessed like Oz had been and Willow still was.  But why had she been looking for him?

                             "Buffy," he said.  "Where did you go?  We couldn't find you after the books attacked."

                             "Oh," she looked confused for a moment.  "I just needed to get a way for a little while."

                             "Away?" Xander asked incredulously.  "Giles is just about done with the translation.  We need you back at the library."

                             "We'll go back soon," she said with a dismissive gesture.  "But first I want to talk to you."

                             "To me?" Xander wondered.  "What about?"

                             "Well," she stammered, looking shy and unsure of herself for a moment.  "I overheard you talking to Cordelia earlier.  I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop.  You said some very nice things to her."

                             Xander shrugged, not sure where Buffy was going with this.  "Well, Cordy means a lot to me.  I wanted to set things right between her and me."

                             "Uh-huh, sure," Buffy muttered walking into the room and producing a small rectangular object from one of her pockets.  "Anyway, it made me realize something: I'm not going to lose you to her again."  She pressed a button on the little device she carried and the room was filled with a soft classical tune that Xander recognized.

                             "Lose me?" he wondered.  "Buffy, what are you talking about?  Have you broken into Principal Snyder's liquor stash again?"

                             "What am I talking about?" she retorted playfully, moving closer to Xander.  "I'm talking about us, silly.  I've wasted enough time admiring you from afar.  It's time for some action."

                             "This is a terrible time to feel déjà vu," Xander muttered.

                             The last time Buffy had come on so strong to him she had been under the influence of a rogue love spell.  But what was affecting her this time?  Could it be that she was genuinely attracted to Xander?  _Nah, he thought, __something's wrong._

                             As Buffy came closer to him, Xander slowly moved back in an attempt to keep a safe distance.  Buffy grabbed the gun out of his hands and placed it on the teacher's desk.  Xander was too perplexed to put up a struggle, he was barely able to stutter in protest.  She gently grabbed the straps of Xander's backpack and pulled them down his arms.  Finally the backpack and the axe within fell to the floor.

                             "Buffy… this is, um… insane," he muttered.  "What are you doing?  I'm finally starting to get things straightened out with Cordy, and I want to make it work with her.  And besides, you don't think of me that way."

                             "Well, I've decided to change my ways," she whispered.

                             By now Xander had run out of room and he was backed up against the windows as Buffy closed in on him.

                             The music rose in volume and intensity as Buffy pressed herself up against Xander as if she had choreographed everything in advance.  The strings swelled up into a sonic waterfall that romantically rained down on Buffy and Xander.

                             "Buffy, I…-" Xander stammered.  He was interrupted when Buffy pressed her lips onto his.  Xander found himself unable to react as synapses in his brain misfired.  He only fully realized what was happening when he felt Buffy's tongue in his mouth.  He tried his very best to resist but his resolve was fading fast, he had dreamed of this for too long.  Within only a few moments he succumbed and kissed Buffy back.  Around them the classical music meandered, giving a score to the moment.

                             Suddenly Buffy retracted her tongue and brutally bit down on Xander's.

                             And then everything went to hell.  Quite literally.

                             Xander screamed as he felt Buffy's teeth cut into his tongue.  He tried to protest, but found it to be quite difficult with his tongue in Buffy's mouth.  Perfectly on cue the music had also changed, from the romantic classical piece that had underlined their kiss, to country music.  Xander was in agony as he tried to cover his ears to spare himself from the acoustically induced pain.  Even though Buffy's face was too close for him to focus on he could see her skin changing in color to a ghastly shade of gray.  And he could also see that Buffy's eyes had turned completely white.

                             Xander tried to break free.  He stumbled around the room pulling Buffy along with him by his tongue.  He could hear her giggling frantically.  Finally he collapsed on the floor with Buffy crashing down on top of him.  He flailed and kicked to no avail.  He writhed in pain as the country music washed over him.  He wasn't quite sure what was worse, having an undead demon attached to him by his tongue or having to endure country music without protective earwear.  He didn't get any further with his reasoning as the deadite started savagely punching him in his stomach.

                             Suddenly he felt the deadite's body being hit by something.  It released Xander's tongue, arched its back and screamed in pain.  As it rolled off Xander, he saw a fire axe embedded in its back, blood flowing freely from the wound.  He then looked up and saw Cordelia standing over him.

                             "Kindly get off my boyfriend, you half decayed tramp," she snarled.

                             She helped Xander off the floor while the demon was running in circles trying to reach the axe in its back, reminding onlookers of a dog trying to catch its own tail.  Xander opened his mouth to explain the events that had led up to him being in a compromising position with a deadite but Cordelia cut him off with a wave of her hand.

                             "I don't even want to know," she said.  "Yet!"

                             Xander quickly picked up the remote that he demon that once had been Buffy had dropped and switched off the sound system.  He sighed in relief and turned to Cordelia.

                             "The country music," he said.  "How could you stand it?"

                             "Huh?" Cordelia asked as she pulled a pair of earplugs out of her ears.

                             The deadite had finally succeeded in removing the axe from its back and now was holding it ready to attack.

                             "This cannot be good," Xander muttered.

                             He ran for his gun, which was still on the teacher's desk, but the demon anticipated his move and intercepted him in front of the table.  It swung the axe and Xander ducked just in time.  He then quickly rolled off to the side as the axe came swinging down and embedded itself in the floorboards.  The demon started pulling on it but the axe had gotten stuck.

                             "Cordy," Xander yelled, trying to sound as macho as he could muster under the circumstances.  "Get out of here, I'll take care of this!"

                             Cordelia exited the room but remained by the door, peering in from a safe distance.

                             The deadite finally gave up on the axe and swung at Xander connecting with his stomach and making him double over.  Then it grabbed him by his hair and started repeatedly banging his head against the teacher's desk.

                             "Ok, Cordelia?  Ouch!" Xander yelped.  "A little, ow, help over here.  Ow!"

                             Cordelia looked up and down the hallway trying to find something she could use as a weapon but came up empty.  Finally she rushed into the classroom, picked up a chair and rushed to Xander's rescue.  The deadite saw her coming and quickly flung Xander over the desk.  It then spun around, caught the chair that Cordelia was swinging and ripped it out of her hands.

                             "Um, why don't you have a seat?" Cordelia offered unconvincingly.

                             The demon snarled at her, threw the chair aside and punched Cordelia in the face.  She toppled over backward trying to find something to hold on to.  What she did find was the handle of the axe stuck in the floorboards.  Her momentum was enough to dislodge the axe and Cordelia fell to the floor with the weapon in her hands.

                             Meanwhile on the other side of the desk Xander was picking himself up off the floor and found his gun on the desk.  He picked it up but saw the he couldn't shoot the demon because it was standing too close to Cordelia.  So he jumped up on the desk and struck the demon, which was facing away from him, in the head with the butt of the rifle.  The demon spun around and screamed at him, obviously not appreciating being attacked simultaneously from two sides.

                             Cordelia saw her chance as the demon was distracted.  She quickly got up off the floor, swung her axe and cleanly cut the demon's head off.


	5. Part IV

Waking Up The Evil Dead

by Random

***

DISCLAIMER:  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all its characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox and the WB Network.  "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead 2," "Army of Darkness" and all their characters and names are property of Sam Raimi and Renaissance Pictures.  "Splattermania" written by Ginger, published by Warner Chappel Music Ltd.  "Far Beyond Metal" written by Devin Townsend, Gene Hoglan, Jed Simon, Byron Stroud and John Paul Morgan, published by Bucket of Nothing Music.

DESCRIPTION:  Buffy/Evil Dead crossover.  A mysterious book surfaces in Sunnydale and soon people start getting possessed by an evil force.  Now it's up to the gang to get things under control, all with a little help from a certain S-Mart clerk with a chainsaw for a hand.

RATING:  R

FEEDBACK:  Yes, please!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This was my very first Buffy fanfiction that I wrote way back in 1999.  It takes place towards the end of season three.  Thanks to Kent for pointing out my glaring omission of the term "boomstick."  And thanks to Devin, Ginger and Jason for all the music.

NOTE:  This fic's original title was "There's Something Evil In The Parking Lot".

* * *

PART IV

* * *

"Alright," Giles announced placing a piece of paper on the table for the others to see.  "This is the definitive translation of the incantations.  I wrote them out phonetically so that we won't have any problems with them."

                             "So, what's the plan then, fearless leader?" Xander asked.

                             "When we recite the first incantation the evil spirit will manifest itself in the flesh," Giles explained.

                             "I don't like the sound of that at all," Cordelia muttered.

                             "It's the only way we can get rid of it," Ash elaborated.  "The other spell tears open a rift in space and time.  We can only throw that thing into the rift if it is manifesting itself in the flesh.  It's not gonna be easy.  Once we have cast the first spell it'll probably throw everything it has at us to prevent us from casting the second one.  It'll come here and it's not gonna be a picnic.  The spirit is hideous and very powerful."

                             "Oh, goody," Xander said sarcastically.  "Sounds like a party.  Where's the keg?"

                             They took a few moments to prepare themselves to cast the spells and for the impending onslaught.  Xander gave Cordelia a crash course in using a shotgun, then took a few minutes to make sure his AK-47 was ready to do battle.  Ash refueled his chainsaw and loaded his shotgun.  Giles got himself a shotgun out of a bag and also found a hand grenade rolling around in it.

                             In the meantime the deadite locked up in the cell was growing more and more restless.  It was slowly pacing back and forth in its confined space, growling and gargling at them.  Its physical appearance had further degenerated; its skin had gotten dryer and it was peeling in some spots, revealing the red flesh below.  Gone was the red hair that had once been Willow's, replaced by the deadite's frizzy gray mane.  Its fingernails had grown long.  They looked worn and dirty, yet there was no question that they were also razor sharp.  And all along it was staring at the goings on outside of its cell with its all white, pupil less eyes.

                             "Are we ready?" Giles finally asked the assembled group.  They nodded in agreement.

                             "Xander?"

                             The voice had come from behind the group.  They turned around to find the deadite gone and Willow trapped inside the cage.  "Xander, help me!" she pleaded.

                             "Willow," Xander said as he started for the cage, but Ash held him back.  "We've got to help Willow," Xander argued.

                             "That's not your Willow in there," Ash said.

                             "Xander, please," Willow begged.  "We've been best friends for as long as we can remember.  Help me, before that thing comes back.  Don't let it take me again."

                             Xander turned to Giles.  "Giles, come on.  It's Willow.  We've got to help her."

                             The watcher looked from the girl in the cage, to Xander and then to Ash.  Finally he just looked at his feet and shook his head.  "Xander, it's a trick.  That's not Willow."

                             Xander started to struggle against Ash's grip and Giles had to help restrain the boy.  "No," Xander screamed.  "We can't just let her go like this.  We have to do something.  There must be something we can do."  Finally he gave up his struggle and sank to his knees in resignation.

                             "There is nothing you can do!"

                             They looked up and saw that the deadite had reverted to its demonic form.

                             "You cannot win," it snarled.  "We will take you all and you will all die!"

                             "You, bastards!" Xander screamed jumping up.  Ash and Giles again had to restrain him, this time from attacking the caged demon.

                             "Xander, listen to me!" Giles yelled in the boy's ear.  "The only way we can beat this thing is if we cast the spells, but we need to stay calm."

                             Xander gradually stopped struggling, composed himself and nodded gravely.

                             "Are we ready now?" Giles asked.

                             "Let's rock," Xander answered.

                             Giles looked down at his paper and started to read.

* * *

                             It heard the words of the spell and it knew what they meant.  The wait was over, it was time to attack.  It swooped down and sped towards the front doors of the school.  It crashed through them, tearing the doors off their hinges.  It continued down the dark hallway that presented itself in front of it.

                             It sped past trophy racks, posters and countless lockers on its way.  It knew were it had to go, which turns it had to take.  The words would take it there.

                             It saw where it had to go now.  At the end of the hallway was a set of double doors.  There was a small window in each door through which light spilled into the hallway.  It was almost there now.  It increased its speed.

                             It was upon them.  It crashed through the library doors.

* * *

All four of them screamed as the library doors exploded inwards.  They immediately started firing before they were even able to see what had turned the doors into firewood.  At the same time a tremor went through the whole building toppling the table over, breaking the windows and producing a long crack all along the ceiling.

                             The deadite in the cage was now completely crazed.  It repeatedly threw itself against the cage in hope to break free.  The shock that the building had suffered had weakened the cage because it was slowly starting to give.

                             The debris from the broken door and shaken building cleared pretty quickly and then they could see it.  It was beyond hideous, beyond any word that the English language (or any other one for that matter) could conjure up.  It was like a huge red face that was stuck in the door.  It seemed to have no skin, it was just naked flesh.  It had sinister yellow eyes, which were bisected by vertical black pupils.  Its jaws were huge lined with teeth right out of a _Jaws movie._

                             Ash just gritted his teeth and continued firing, although he had to stop and reload every two shots.  The others just seemed to be mesmerized by the horror that was presenting itself in front of them.

                             "Giles!" Ash was yelling over the unbearable din.  "You have to read the other passage!"

                             Cordelia barely heard the voice but it was enough to make her spin around and look at the watcher.  Giles was completely perplexed, just staring at the manifestation of the evil spirit with his mouth open.  His gun and the paper with the incantation were hanging limply by his side.  Cordelia was about to grab him and try to bring him back to reality when she noticed something creeping in through the broken windows.  They were branches from the trees outside, deformed into grotesque hands, and they were coming for Giles.  She quickly grabbed an axe off the floor by the table, pushed Giles out of the way and started hacking away at the wooden digits.

                             Cordelia crashing by him was enough to bring Giles back to the here and now.  He shook his head to clear the cobwebs and took in the situation unfolding before him.  Ash and Xander were still firing at the face peering in through the doors with complete abandon, although it only seemed to do very limited damage.  Cordelia was behind him, fighting off tree branches with an axe.  And the deadite was still throwing itself against the cage and it was clear that the cage had just about had enough.

                             With a loud crash the cage gave way and the deadite toppled out and came to rest against the stairs leading up to the stacks.

                             "Oh, shit," Xander muttered.  "Like we didn't have enough problems already."

                             Giles quickly thrust the paper with the spells into Xander's hand.  "Read the incantation," he screamed at him, trying to make himself audible over all the noise. "I'll take care of the deadite."

                             And with that Giles ran for the deadite making sure that his gun was ready to fire.  The deadite had obviously been winded by the raw force it had required to escape its cell and was still lying on the stairs trying to sort itself out.  Giles was starting to formulate a plan.  He had to keep the deadite away so it wouldn't interfere with the others casting the spell.  The best course of action probably was to try and get the demon into the stacks, so it would be out of the way.  He ran up the stairs past the deadite and waited on top.

                             "Hey," he yelled down getting the deadite's attention.  "Why don't you come and swallow my soul?"

                             The deadite picked itself up off the floor and glared at Giles with its white eyes.  It was bleeding out of several wounds it had probably inflicted on itself.

                             Giles started backing away into the stacks as the deadite ascended the steps to get to him.  "That's right," he taunted the demon.  "Come get me, you ugly piece of crap.  Come here!"

                             It was working.  The deadite was following Giles deeper and deeper into the stacks.  He fired his shotgun once into the demon's chest.  It shook on impact but Giles knew that his gun would only slow the deadite down.  He hoped that it would buy him enough time for Xander to cast the spell to open the rift in time and space.

* * *

Things weren't going too good in the library's main room.  Ash had taken Xander's AK-47 while Xander was staring at the piece of paper with the spell, trying to make out Giles' handwriting.  The horrible calligraphy and the fact that he didn't recognize any of the words was making the seemingly easy task of reading a few passages out loud rather hard.

                             Xander spun around when he heard a scream from behind him.  One of the hands that Cordelia had been so valiantly fighting off had finally managed to grab her and wrap her up in its wooden fingers.  Xander quickly thrust the piece of paper in his pocket, grabbed the axe that Cordelia had dropped and started hacking away at the wrist of the giant hand.  Cordelia screamed anew as the hand started slowly carrying her towards the entrance of the library where the evil spirit's grotesque face was leering.

                             When Ash noticed the goings on he stopped firing and screamed at Xander.  "What the hell do you think you're doing?  Read the spell and get rid of this thing!"

                             "I'm not going to let it take her," Xander yelled back.

                             Ash knew that Xander was not going to stop and read the spell as long as the monster had Cordelia.  He quickly slung his gun onto his back, pulled the rip chord of his chainsaw, revved it up and ran right for the face in the doorway.  When he buried the saw's blade deep in the monster's face, it screamed in agony and dropped Cordelia, bringing both its wooden hands around to deal with Ash.

* * *

Deep in the stacks the deadite was repeatedly banging Giles' head against a shelf emptied by the literary air raid earlier.  Then it held him up and savagely kicked the watcher in the ribs, audibly snapping two of them.  Giles was sent sprawling to the floor.  He quickly shuffled his feet to slide himself along the floor and get some more distance between himself and the deadite.

                             The fight was not going good for Giles.  He had lost his shotgun, which was out of ammunition anyway, and the pain from the beating he had suffered at the hands of the deadite was threatening to make him lose consciousness.  He reached a hand into his coat to feel his broken ribs but instead found something else that he had completely forgotten about.  He wrapped his fingers around the cold metallic object in his breast pocket and formulated a new plan.

                             The deadite saw Giles using his legs to slide himself along the floor away from his attacker.  It slowly followed him along long shelves filled with old musty books.

                             Giles kept going watching the demon follow him patiently.  It seemed to know that eventually he would run out of room.  He knew where he was heading, a cozy cul-de-sac on the other side of the stacks, far from where he hoped Xander, Cordelia and Ash were taking care of the evil spirit.

* * *

Ash saw the wooden hands closing in on him as he was holding the chainsaw to the monster's face.

                             "You got your girlfriend back," he yelled to Xander, "now read the damn spell!"

                             After helping Cordelia to her feet Xander started fishing around his pockets for the piece of paper.  He found it and was about to hand it to Cordelia when he noticed that she was staring blankly at the face in the door.  He quickly grabbed her and spun her around, away from the entrance.

                             "Don't look at it," he shouted as he handed her the piece of paper.  "You're better with Giles' handwriting.  Read the spell."

                             "Oh, yeah," she retorted.  "Put all the pressure on me!"

                             She took a quick look at the paper and then started reading the incantation aloud.

* * *

Giles was backed up against a tall bookrack with the deadite looming over him.  There was nowhere for him to go, the only exit was blocked by the demon in front of him.  Everything was going according to his plan.

                             The deadite closed in on Giles who seemed to be cowering in the floor.

                             "You shall die," the demon snarled.

                             It was distracted when a small metallic object flew past its head and it tried to find where it had fallen before looking back at Giles, who now was wearing a smug grin.

                             "Hey," Giles spat.  "What do you do when a blonde throws a pin at you?"

                             The deadite was caught off guard by that question and just stared blankly at Giles.

                             "Run like hell," Giles said, answering his own question.  "Because she's got a hand grenade in her mouth."

                             With a weak grin Giles slowly raised his right hand showing the deadite the grenade that he was holding.

* * *

Ash was trying to free himself from the wooden hand that was holding him yelling a string of obscenities that would have made the more callous members of the local truck driver's union blush.  Cordelia was reading the spell when a loud explosion from the stacks rocked the building.

                             It seemed to startle everyone enough for Ash to free himself.  He backed away from the hand wielding his chainsaw in front of him.  Xander urged Cordelia to continue the spell and by the time Ash had caught up with them she was done.

                             A strong wind moved through the library blowing everything towards the door where the face of the evil spirit was screaming.

                             "We have to get out the back door," Ash called and they started moving towards the stacks.

                             Just before they disappeared into the stacks Xander took a quick look back and saw the face fall away from the doorway.  But what lay beyond were not the halls of Sunnydale High School but a dark expanse of nothingness.  He could hear the spirit scream as it fell away into the emptiness.

* * *

Cordelia, Xander and Ash stood quietly before the enormous crater that had once been Sunnydale High School.  The whole building was gone leaving only a big hole in its place.  A few tubes that before had been connected to what had been the school's plumbing stuck out of the walls of the crater spilling water into the hole turning the floor of it into mud.

                             The sun was slowly rising in the east bathing Sunnydale in the soft colors of dawn.

                             Ash took a quick look at his watch and cursed under his breath.  "I've got to be at work in two hours and I'll have to explain all the missing merchandise," he muttered and ran off down the street, his chainsaw still attached to his right arm.

                             Cordelia and Xander looked at each other for a brief moment then turned back to the crater that had been their school.

                             "So," Xander said finally.  "Does this mean we graduated?"

                             "I don't know," Cordelia replied uncertainly.  "I think so.  Principal Snyder is going to be livid"

                             They looked on in silence again for another moment or two.

                             "They're gone," Cordelia suddenly blurted.  "My brand new shoes.  Gone.  They cost a fortune."

                             "Yeah," Xander nodded.  "I had a candy bar in my locker that I was saving for lunch today.  All gone."

                             They held a moment of silence for their dearly departed worldly possessions.

                             "I'm starved," Xander finally said.  "You fancy some breakfast?"

                             Cordelia eyed him suspiciously.  "You buying?"

                             "Of course I'm buying," Xander laughed.

                             Cordelia's face split into a warm smile.  "I'd love some breakfast then."

                             And so they walked off, arm in arm, away from the crater that marked the spot where once Sunnydale High School had terrorized the teenage population of Sunnydale, and into the warm glow of the sunrise.

THE END


End file.
